A list of reactions to this year’s budget from the ACT.

Simon Corbell is furious about cuts to health funding:

The Federal Budget confirms that the ACT is the big loser when it comes to health funding, ACT Minister for Health Simon Corbell said tonight.

The ACT is the only jurisdiction forecast to have a reduction in funding between 2014-15 and 2017-18 and will lose more than $600 million dollars in long-term health funding based on figures revealed in the federal budget tonight

The budget confirms that the Federal Liberal Government’s change from National Health Reform funding to population based funding from 2017-18 will rip hundreds of millions of dollars from the ACT budget.

“The ACT will actually receive less Commonwealth funding in 2017-18 than we did in 2014-15,” Mr Corbell said.

“The Commonwealth has failed to undo the damage from last year’s budget that saw them tear up the National Health Reform Agreement.

“This failure to properly fund their share of hospital and health services will only put further pressure on our health system, which will continue to experience growth over the coming years.

“I will continue to push for a fair funding deal with my state and territory counterparts at the upcoming COAG health council.”

The Commonwealth funding shortfall will grow from $14 million in 2017-18 to $22 million in 2018-19 up to more than $100 million a year in 2025-26.

The ACT will also lose nearly a $1 million next year in Commonwealth Dental Funding and $250,000 of Indigenous Early Childhood Development funding.

The Canberra Business Chamber is very pleased:

Overall this Budget has a number of positives for the ACT and will help the local economy start to recover following a number of tough years caused by large public sector cuts.

“Small business tax cuts, slowdown in public sector cuts, financial incentives to employ, along with low interest rates and a lower Australian dollar, have created a positive environment for businesses to invest in capital, equipment, and people and to expand. We expect that in the ACT business confidence will start to improve, jobs will be created and our economy will grow,” Canberra Business Chamber CEO, Chris Faulks said.

“Small business is a big winner in this year’s Budget. The small business package, particularly the reduction in the tax rate, will improve confidence and stimulate investment and growth.”

Canberra Business Chamber also welcomes the fact there will be no more wholesale public service jobs cuts.

The Chamber understands the need for an efficient public sector, but feels the program of targeted Functional and Efficiency Reviews of selected portfolios is a better approach than the previous blunt instruments of efficiency dividends and indiscriminate job cuts.

While working towards a smaller, more efficient public sector, the Government needs to be careful not to focus too much of its saving activities in the ACT. Government departments and agencies are major clients of Canberra businesses and reductions in Federal Government procurement and employment spending inevitably have a disproportionate impact in Canberra. However, a number of initiatives in tonight’s Budget will create opportunities locally. These include investment in technology and capital works by a number of agencies.

“We support the decision to keep the Department of Immigration in Belconnen and requiring the consideration of local impacts on town centres in deciding its future location,” Ms Faulks said.

Strategic moves to increase participation will help drive productivity. An additional $3.2 billion will be provided over five years to support families with child care so they can move into work, stay in work, train or study. A single wage subsidy pool is being established which, among other things, will allow employers to receive the Restart Subsidy amount of $10,000 progressively over 12 months instead of 24 months. This will encourage people to stay in the workforce longer. There are also initiatives to help young people get into the labour market.

Canberra Business Chamber is also pleased to see a number of measures designed to level the playing field between Australian and foreign companies.

“The ACT is home to highly innovative companies playing in the digital field. The decision to apply GST to digital products and services imported into Australia will help them compete with foreign businesses,” Ms Faulks said.

“Providing $24.6 million over two years to promote business understanding of the Free Trade Agreements in North Asia will assist businesses to access and maximise the benefits under these agreements. We will be encouraging businesses to utilise this opportunity. It is also good to see investment for Austrade to promote Australia as a tourism destination and trade and investment partner.”

A number of national institutions based in the ACT will receive funding. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies will get an additional $5 million for preservation of documentary and audio-visual materials and the Australian War Memorial $8.7 million to document a number of recent Australian operations.

“Canberra Business Chamber is disappointed the Budget did not contain more funding for productive infrastructure in the ACT,” Ms Faulks said. “Apart from a small amount of funding for roads projects, there is virtually no funding for infrastructure in the ACT.”

The Chamber was also moved to sing the praises of the small business stimulus package:

Small business is one of the biggest winners from tonight’s Federal Budget under a $5.5 billion economic package which includes reducing the tax burden for small business to the lowest level in nearly 50 years.

“The small business measures announced tonight are very welcome,” according to Canberra

Business Chamber CEO, Chris Faulks. “In particular, the reduction in the tax rate from 30 per cent to 28.5 per cent for businesses with a turnover of less than $2 million will drive growth in this sector.

“Small business is the engine room of the national economy, employing more than half of the country’s workers. In the ACT there are over 26,000 businesses and 97 per cent of these are small businesses employing less than 20 people.”

Non-incorporated businesses will receive a 5 per cent tax discount up to $1,000.

Other measures aimed at stimulating small businesses include immediate tax deductibility for all items purchased up to $20,000 and start-up legal and accounting costs.

“The small business package will encourage new businesses to start up and existing businesses to invest,” Ms Faulks said. “In light of the current subdued state of the ACT economy, this could help small business invest, create jobs and drive economic growth.

“Prosperity comes when businesses have the confidence to invest in capital, equipment, and people and to expand. This Budget will help improve business confidence in the ACT by providing more certainty. When combined with historically low interest rates and the end of indiscriminate public sector job cuts, we are optimistic about Canberra’s future.”

Fringe benefits tax will be abolished on all portable electronic devices and $255 million will be invested in making it easier for businesses to interact with government agencies.

“Tax concessions for share employee schemes are also being expanded. The ACT is a hotbed of innovation and this measure could help local businesses attract skilled staff,” Ms Faulks said.

Other initiatives for small business include development of a single online registration site, ability to change the structure of their business without incurring a Capital Gains Tax liability, and removing obstacles to crowd-sourced funding.

“We are pleased to see small business getting the recognition it deserves in this Budget. Canberra Business Chamber hopes this will help the small business sector continue to grow and employ and counteract the impact of public sector cuts,” Ms Faulks said.

The Canberra Liberals’ Andrew Wall is saluting:

The Federal Budget has underlined the Commonwealth’s understanding that small businesses are the driving force of our economy and must be supported if we are to increase job growth, capitalise on our strengths and build a resilient and innovative business sector in the ACT, Shadow Minister for Small Business Andrew Wall said today.

“The focus on small business in the Federal Budget is good news for the ACT economy and for the thousands of small businesses in Canberra,” Mr Wall said.

“The Budget goes a long way to improving business confidence amongst small business owners, including:

• The lowest company tax rate in 50 years combined with historically low interest rates will benefit a sector that is at the heart of our economy.
• Instant asset write down provides an incentive for businesses to reinvest back into the local economy.
• The Budget also removes barriers to allow small businesses to become more innovative in the way that they attract capital. With expanded tax concessions it provides assistance to start-ups in attracting and retaining the staff and the skills required to succeed.

“ACT businesses have received the boost they were looking for in the Federal Budget. It is now essential for the ACT Labor government to play its part in further developing confidence and certainty for small business in the ACT,” Mr Wall concluded.

The ACT Hotels Association has expressed some pleasure:

The Federal Budget plan to boost employment and reduce taxation for small business has been applauded by the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) ACT today.

With many licensed venues being small businesses in Canberra, these key Budget measures – including new tax write offs for purchases up to $20,000 – will stimulate growth in the hospitality sector and local economy.

AHA ACT General Manager Brad Watts said: “The small business package is a major benefit to small hospitality operators and we hope these tax savings can be rolled-out for larger hospitality businesses in the future.”

Mr Watts also welcomed the Youth Employment Strategy to provide up to $331 million to help make young people job-ready.

“Importantly, this program includes a $212 million Transition to Work program to help disengaged young people aged between 15 and 21 become job-ready – which will help skills shortages in the licensed hospitality sector,” Mr Watts said.

A stronger focus on tourism to grow the economy and create employment was also welcomed by the AHA ACT.

“It’s encouraging to see Tourism Australia’s Budget increased for 2015-16, with an allocation of more than $137.3 million compared with $129.75 million last financial year. This will help lure more tourists to Australia from target areas including China.”

The AHA ACT also applauded a new National Drugs Campaign to target and stamp-out of illicit drug use in Australia.

The Students on the other hand are revolting:

The Australian National University Students’ Association (ANUSA) has expressed dismay and disgust at what it describes as the underhanded pursuit of the current government’s package of reforms in the Higher Education sphere.

The manifestly unpopular package of reforms, including deregulation, is still being pursued by the government despite having twice been rejected by the Senate.

ANUSA’s Education officer, Jock Webb, said ‘It is an abhorrence that the government would continue to pursue reforms that grossly affect the accessibility of our universities, without any guarantee that the quality of undergraduate education will improve.’

‘The debacle is significantly worsened by the fact that the Treasurer’s Budget address made no mention of the reforms, or even of universities. These reforms have been swept under the rug. This government is lying by omission.’

The proposed reforms would see the full deregulation of university fees, meaning that universities could set their fees at whatever price they were to choose. Estimates have shown that such reforms could lead to $100,000 degrees according to modeling released by the National Tertiary Education Union in September 2014.

Universities would also see an average of 20% of funding cut from government subsidised places, along with damaging cuts to the research sector.

Such measures would create a two-tiered system of universities and disproportionately affect students of low socio-economic status, students from remote and regional areas, as well as students belonging to other disadvantaged and oppressed groups.

‘Surely, a greater public investment in our universities is the sensible approach, rather than slashing funding and leaving disadvantaged students with the decision to take on a lifetime of debt,’ said Webb.

Research has shown that higher education has immense public benefit. Figures released last year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development show that for every dollar invested in an individual’s education, there is a $6 return to the public, almost double the return to the individual.

ANUSA, ANU students and community members will be participating in a National Day of Action in favour of a quality, accessible education on the 20th of May, at 12pm in Union Court at ANU.

Canberra’s Labor members have joined to condemn the budget:

After a year of savage cuts to Canberra, the 2015 Budget delivers nothing for our community except more uncertainty. This is just the latest proof that the Liberals see Canberra as little more than a political punching bag by the Liberals.

There is no new infrastructure spending for the ACT in this Budget, and no acknowledgement of how hard the Abbott Government’s 17,300 job cuts have hit Canberra since the Liberals came to office.

In fact, the Government appears to be gearing up for a fresh round of public service cuts, with so-called ‘functional reviews’ on the horizon for the departments of Environment, Foreign Affairs and Trade, Social Services, the Attorney-General’s Department, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as well as the Australian Tax Office.

Not only do staff at these agencies face an anxious wait to find out if their jobs are safe – the Government is attacking their hard-fought-for pay and conditions.

Not content with increasing uncertainty and driving down wages, Joe Hockey is continuing to insist on cutting $80 billion from health and education funding for Australia’s states and territories – a disastrous measure left over from the 2014 Budget. The ACT will be $600 million worse off in terms of health funding alone as a result.

The Abbott Government is also continuing to push its unfair changes to family payments which will see single-income Canberra families lose up to $6,000 a year.

Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey seem to think that setting their sights on Canberra will help them keep their jobs. But our community should not have to suffer through further uncertainty and cuts simply to prop up this unfair government.

Updates to follow as they come to hand.